1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recording apparatus capable of recording a sound along with a still image on a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, to make the magnetic disc find its use in recording still images and sounds or reproducing them therefrom, a still video system has been proposed. With this, the shot image can immediately be reproduced, or printed out. Further the image can be transported to any remote place through the telecommunication line. And editing also is easy to perform. From the reason of these unique features, the system is rapidly spreading.
The still video system has its record format for video and audio signals standardized so that the video signal for a still image and the audio signal can be recorded and reproduced in and from the respective tracks formed on the magnetic disc. At the time of recording the audio signal, there is also recorded a control code comprised of various kinds of control information including those on the record conditions for the audio signal and the position of the track in which the corresponding video signal. Based on this control code, information necessary to the coordination, recording and reproduction on the magnetic disc is obtained. Hence, for example, at the time of reproduction of the audio signal, the video signal corresponding to that audio signal can be reproduced.
To the above-defined format, however, there is no standard concerning the method of referring the record positions of a still image and a sound to each other, as they should be recorded in conjunction to each other on the recording medium or the magnetic disc, except for a mere provision that only when the sound is recorded in a vacant track, it becomes possible to address a video track. Hence there has been a problem in the method for establishing good correspondence between a sound and a still image when recording, particularly the method for inputting still images with respect to the continuous sound input. Accordingly, in the conventional still video system, the recording head often takes wasteful motion, contributing to a difficulty of corresponding the still image and the accompanying sound in good timing to each other. When reproduced, therefore, the sound and the image appear in no accurate correspondence with each other, or in a time gap from each other, and the timing of change from one image to the next does not coincide with that of change from one sound to the next. These constitutes a great problem in the use of the still video system.
As one means to solve this problem, the recording apparatus may be provided with means for, prior to making record of an audio signal, reproducing the one of the video signals which is chosen for accompaniment with that audio signal, and also with means for altering the track of a video signal to be reproduced, as proposed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 193,369 filed on May 12, 1988 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,675 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.